Friday, May 30, 2008

I'll admit ahead of time I have no idea what this is ultimately about, but apparently Don Cherry has something against Sidney Crosby. According to the Globe and mail the HNIC and ESPN analyst purposefully didn't bring up the Penguins young star after Game Three and he's ultimately hurting viewers....

On Wednesday, Sidney Crosby scored two of the Pittsburgh Penguins' three goals and logged almost 20 minutes of ice time to lead the Penguins back into their series against the Detroit Red Wings. It was a terrific performance.

But guess who received the attention during the Hockey Night in Canada postgame coverage? Gary Roberts.

The show's grudge against Crosby has gone well beyond ridiculous. Yes, host Ron MacLean interviewed him last Saturday, but the show's most influential commentator, Don Cherry, doesn't like him. And MacLean certainly defers to his elder.

When Cherry did his postgame spot for ESPN, he continued to ignore Crosby and wax lyrical about Roberts. Finally, ESPN commentator Barry Melrose said, “What about the Crosby kid?”

“Oh,” Cherry said. “I forgot. Yeah, he played a great game.”

Crosby should be a Cherry favourite. He's a Canadian, he's tough and he has been in at least one fight. But the two got off to a bad start when Crosby was in junior hockey and was rapped by Cherry for being a hot dog because he used a lacrosse-style stick manoeuvre to score a goal. For his part, Crosby has a bit of an edge and he probably hasn't been appropriately deferential to Cherry.

Canadians sure do know how to hold a grudge don't they? It's an odd situation, but if a viewer has eyes he knows how good Crosby was in Game Three. They don't need a joker in a ridiculous suit to tell them that.

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Comments:

not sure of the specifics but cherry told mike tirico he and crosby (and if you read between the lines, crosby's family) had some altercation years ago when crosby was playing in junior hockey because cherry was critical of his play.

cherry went on to say how great of a player he throught crosby was and that he didn't have a problem with him personally, just there was some incident years ago and as a result, he won't have anything to do with crosby.

it was interesting that the sport's most well-known analyst won't have anything to do with it's best player, but was upfront with the issue and went on to say he thought crosby was a great player, they just have a bad history.

i give cherry credit for that.

but cherry talking so much about gary roberts was both accurate and vintage cherry. so i'm not sure how people thought that was so unusual.

Uh, why should Crosby be a Don Cherry (or anyone's) favorite? The guy is a sniveling diver, an embarrassment to old-time hockey. If you breathe on the guy he goes down like he was shot. When 87 learns to respect the game the old-timers will come around to respecting him.

@ Tyler...........you must be a Flyer or Rangers fan.............You know nothing about the game if you think Crosby is an embarrasment for hockey.......

Regarding Cherry - yes, Roberts deserved credit for his part in game 3 but to ignore Crosby.s performance is just Cherry being Cherry - keeps him name in the limelight by slighting Crosby and just goes to show you how people become bitter as they age...

Gretzky and Lemieux were accused of embellishment too. Crosby gets pulled down an awful lot because he's a strong skater and puck handler. It happens to good players. But he's no more a diver than anyone else in the league. I don't know how many Rangers and Flyers I saw flop on the ice after they were touched during these playoffs. As for Don Cherry, somebody needs to put his dinosaur ass in a home.

Ash is correct - both of those players had to deal with the same old griping from their elders. Doesn't respect the game, flops too much, blah, blah, blah. I like Cherry, but to ignore Crosby is akin to ignoring an 800 - lb. elephant in your living room.

And as for special treatment, speaking as a long - time Hawks fan, I knew that guys like Hull and Mikita got the calls that regular players didn't - that's the way it's always been for higher - echelon players in the league.

BP, now you know the plight of us Pittsburgh sportsbloggers. Mention Crosby at all, and you get the trolls coming out with the beligerent "diver!!!!!!!!111!!!!1!" comments. As if it fits in to whatever is being discussed.

Crosby scored a goal in the minors by lifting it on his stick lacrosse-style from behind the net in a 6-0 game and Cherry called him out saying that if he did that in the NHL he would get hammered by players on the other team.

Crosby's parents/family obviously didn't like that even though I think Cherry was right.

Your old-guard Canadian attitude is what's killing interest in the States. The sport needs some semblance of a star. Name me one magnetic player on any of the Six Canadian Teams, Senators, Canucks, Habs, Leafs, Oilers and Flames.

I can't speak for the Flyers, but the number of Ranger players who took any dives in the playoffs was 0. I'll admit Osgood and Franzen have been flopping but Crosby is just as bad as ever and it's nice to have one announcer who isn't all over him. I didn't know that about Cherry and Crosby but that is a good reason and I almost wish he would do that in the NHL so someone would finally really clobber him. Although the Penguins have already sent their goon Laraque after a REPORTER who criticized Crosby and since very few NHLers are as big as Laraque it'll never happen...too bad, nobody deserves it more than that smug little bitch.